Red Sox

Through the first two games of this four-game series with Boston, the Orioles pitching staff kept a potent Red Sox lineup in check. Boston tallied 12 hits in 74 at-bats in the two Orioles wins for a paltry .181 average and four runs. Despite the success, Orioles manager Buck Showalter kept speaking to the potent nature of the Red Sox's lineup, and in the Orioles' 5-4 loss Saturday afternoon , those bats finally came alive. When the Red Sox put three runs across in the fourth inning, it broke a streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings posted by Orioles pitchers.

This is how good the Orioles are going now: even Jon Lester can't stop them anymore. You remember Lester, of course. The Boston Red Sox lefty used to be the Orioles' personal Grim Reaper. All that was missing was the cloak with the hood and the scythe. Lester was where base hits went to die, where batting averages withered like dried husks, where all hope vanished if you wore the orange and black. But not anymore. The Orioles' 6-3 win over the Red Sox at a packed Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon proved that.

BaseballOrioles -- Activated P Kevin Brown from 15-day DL. Placed C Chris Hoiles on 15-day DL.Boston Red Sox -- Placed 1B-DH Reggie Jefferson on the 15-day DL. Recalled OF Mark Whiten from Triple-A Pawtucket. Signed P Andy Yount.California Angels -- Placed P Shawn Boskie on the 15-day DL, retroactive to July 6.Chicago White Sox -- Recalled P Matt Karschner from Triple-A Nashville.Cleveland Indians -- Recalled P Chad Ogea from Triple-A Buffalo. Activated DH Dave Winfield from the 15-day DL. Optioned P Alan Embree to Buffalo.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman might not be the biggest name in pitching in the major leagues right now, but his performance over the past two seasons ranks among the best. Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Tillman is 16-5 for a .762 winning percentage. That winning percentage is the fourth-best in all of baseball for players with at least 20 decisions. Tillman ranks behind only Cincinnati's Mat Latos (.833), Detroit's Max Scherzer (.781) and St. Louis's Lance Lynn (.765)

The Orioles are traveling to Fort Myers today to face the Red Sox, but some important stuff is going on this morning here at the Ed Smith Stadium Complex. Pitchers Tommy Hunter, Zach Britton and Jim Johnson will all throw in a two-inning simulated game on the back fields here. What happens here might be more important than what's going on down south. The Orioles will send essentially the same lineup as they did yesterday afternoon on the road against the Rays. Here are the lineups: Orioles Chavez RF Adams 2B N. Johnson DH Betemit LF Mahoney 1B Teagarden C Flaherty SS Bell 3B Avery CF Eveland LHP Red Sox Ellsbury CF Pedroia 2B Gonzalez 1B Lavarnway C Ross RF Punto DH Hassan LF Middlebrooks 3B Aviles SS Bard RHP

All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was in Boston on Saturday to take a physical exam needed to complete a trade from the Padres to the Red Sox, two people familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. Gonzalez had surgery on his non-throwing right shoulder on Oct. 20. The Padres said then that Gonzalez was expected to be ready for spring training. The Padres will receive three top prospects — right-hander Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Reymond Fuentes — plus a player to be determined.

Chris Davis hadn't thrown a pitch in nearly six years, dating to his days as a draft hopeful playing at a small junior college in Corsicana, Texas. But more than five hours - and 15 innings - into the Orioles' series finale with the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon-turned-evening, manager Buck Showalter turned to Davis, the club's everyday first baseman, in the visiting dugout and directed him toward the bullpen to warm up. The Orioles had exhausted all other relief options - eight relievers combined to allowed one run over seven innings - in a game tied at 6. Davis shrugged.

Players must adjust Ron Fritz Baltimore Sun It's too early to tell. Bobby Valentine certainly has the experience, and he convinced ownership he's the guy. Now he needs to work on the players. They clearly preferred the country-club atmosphere under Terry Francona. But after the late-season collapse and missing the playoffs last year, the players lost their country-club membership. Thanks to their pitiful performance and clubhouse shenanigans, someone had to go. What second baseman Dustin Pedroia said after Valentine criticized Kevin Youkilis was stunning: "I really don't know what Bobby's trying to do, but that's not the way we go about our stuff around here.

Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair was at Fenway Park on Tuesday night to meet with Dustin Pedroia and the Red Sox . Our Dan Connolly reported that a couple of Orioles players got a kick out of meeting him , too. The play did not pay off for Boston, though, as "the Nature Boy" was unable to "WOOO!" the Red Sox past the feisty Orioles . However, Flair delivered when he emphatically introduced the Red Sox on NESN before the game (while holding a championship belt, of course)

The Orioles have been, for the past season and a half, one of the most opportunistic teams in baseball, so it would not be fair for them to curse the fates for letting one promising opportunity slip away in a 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox. They can curse home plate umpire Jeff Nelson if they want, as he blew a call that led to a pair of Red Sox runs in a three-run fourth inning on Saturday. They can curse their own inability to put the hammer down on Boston pitcher John Lackey when they had a chance to get more out of a first-inning rally that might have made things a lot more comfortable for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia.

Through the first two games of this four-game series with Boston, the Orioles pitching staff kept a potent Red Sox lineup in check. Boston tallied 12 hits in 74 at-bats in the two Orioles wins for a paltry .181 average and four runs. Despite the success, Orioles manager Buck Showalter kept speaking to the potent nature of the Red Sox's lineup, and in the Orioles' 5-4 loss Saturday afternoon , those bats finally came alive. When the Red Sox put three runs across in the fourth inning, it broke a streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings posted by Orioles pitchers.

The Orioles' 5-4 win in 13 innings over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night featured a potential future ace, one of the game's current top hitters and one of the best power hitters of the past decade. With right-hander Kevin Gausman on the mound, first baseman Chris Davis producing more heroics and Boston designated hitter David Ortiz going deep, it had all the makings of a classic American League East matchup. But a much more nuanced statistic could have been lost in the shuffle of the Orioles and Red Sox combining to use 11 relievers in the first game of a four-game series.

The evolution of Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman continued Friday night with an outing that was reminiscent of an experienced veteran and not a guy who was in the minors a year ago wondering about his future in the organization. In the Orioles' 2-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in front of a nearly packed house on a picture-perfect baseball evening at Camden Yards, Tillman did what good pitchers are supposed to do. He won without having particularly strong command, walking four to tie his season high set in the first game of the year.

The Orioles were not a perfect team in 2012, though it's easy to get nostalgic about their first truly competitive season of this century. They were plugging holes in the starting rotation throughout the summer. They needed several months to assemble an adequate defense. And clutch hitting was always an issue. The only component of the club that was never cause for serious concern was the bullpen, which was pretty much airtight and was the main reason the Orioles put up otherworldly numbers in one-run and extra-inning games.

May 23, 1991: Mired in last place, the Orioles fire manager Frank Robinson and promote Johnny Oates, 45, the team's first base coach and a former Baltimore player. Oates will manage nearly four years here (291 wins and 270 losses) before going to Texas, where he is named 1996 American League Manager of the Year. May 25, 1985: Del Dressel's three goals lead Johns Hopkins past Syracuse, 11-4, for the NCAA lacrosse championship. The four goals by the Orangemen are the fewest allowed in a title game, a mark that will stand until 2012.

We're almost a month into the season, and it seems an appropriate time for another trip "Around the AL East. " Here's a look at a main storyline for each opponent in the Orioles' division as well as a look at who's hot and who's not on each club:   BOSTON RED SOX (16-7) I'm not about to brag, because my preseason predictions overall don't look so great . But I did go on record saying that, in the AL East, “each of the five teams could conceivably win the division - or finish last.” Many people thought the Red Sox were the team least equipped to contend for the division title, but that sure hasn't looked the case through four weeks of baseball.

Under manager Buck Showalter, the Orioles enjoy being a team that few take notice of on the national stage. They will be front and center in the baseball spotlight for their first nationally televised Sunday night game in five seasons. Tonight's ESPN-televised game against the Yankees is first time the Orioles have appeared on Sunday Night Baseball since Sept. 21, 2008, which was the final game at the old Yankee Stadium. All other games will be completed by the time the Orioles and Yankees start play tonight at 8:05.